Konbucha Japanese Kelp Tea

I had an unpleasant surprise this morning when I took a sip of my tea expecting jasmine, only to find that it tasted like sweat. When I stayed at a Toyoko Hotel a few weeks back I decided to take the cute powdered tea packets from the room home to try. I tried the green first and true to the packaging it was green tea. This morning I went for the pink packet assuming it would be Jasmine tea, but found that it was actually konbucha. konbucha is not made from tea leaves, instead it is made from seaweed and can have added flavor from shiso, or plum. When I asked A & M about the stuff they guestimated that konbucha is only popular among 1/2 of Japanese people. M likes it, but A will only tolerate the plum version. My previous experience konbucha, and probably what kept me from spitting it out this morning, was at a nomikai where it was served as an after dinner drink and I was instructed to drink it because it was very healthy. A & M agree that it is healthy due to mineral content. I have another packet remaining at home and rather than drink it as tea I plan to cook with it, apparently it can be used as an MSG substitute. I am thinking of trying the pickle recipe from this site.